09/21/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10143

SADDAM'S W-M-D PROGRAM

In an address to the United Nations, President George W. Bush said, "In 1991, the Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, and prove to the world it has done so by complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq has broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge."

Shortly after the Gulf War, Iraq flatly denied the existence of an Iraqi biological weapons program. But after a senior official defected and exposed this lie in 1995, the regime admitted to a large-scale biological weapons program. U-N inspections revealed that Iraq produced tens of thousands of liters of anthrax and other biological agents and successfully weaponized these deadly agents for use in Scud warheads, aerial bombs, and spray tanks. But U-N inspectors also believe Iraq has produced two to four times the amount of biological weapons agent it declared and has failed to account for more than three metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons.

Iraq originally admitted to having only a limited chemical weapons program -- it had no choice since it had already used chemical weapons against Iran and the Iraqi people. Contrary to this declaration, U-N inspectors uncovered a large-scale chemical weapons program far beyond what Iraq admitted. The U-N inspectors destroyed thousands of chemical weapons munitions and tons of bulk chemical weapons agent. However, Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of V-X, mustard, and other chemical agents and the capability to produce more.

Iraq denied having a nuclear weapons program and aggressively sought to prevent U-N inspectors from discovering the truth. But U-N inspectors uncovered a dedicated program designed to acquire weapons-grade uranium and plutonium for the sole purpose of building a nuclear weapon. Only in 1995 did Iraq finally admit that it had a crash nuclear weapons program. "We know now," President Bush said, "the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed a nuclear weapon no later than 1993." The Gulf War prevented this.

Despite these facts, Iraq still withheld important information about its nuclear program -- weapons design, procurement logs, experiment data, an accounting of nuclear materials, and documentation of foreign assistance. "Should Iraq acquire fissile material," Mr. Bush warned, "it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year."

Saddam Hussein has long record of using weapons of mass destruction against other countries and the Iraqi people. He has defied the will of the international community by flagrantly refusing to destroy and abandon Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.

President Bush told the U-N delegates, "The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U-N demands with a decade of defiance. . . . We cannot stand by and do nothing while dangers gather. We must stand up for our security and for the permanent rights and hopes of mankind. By heritage and by choice, the [U.S.] will make that stand. Delegates to the United Nations. . .have the power to make that stand as well."